The Guaranteed Astrologer Part – 1 by Saptarishis Astrology

Article by Saptarishis Astrology

Now as I look back, I think of “him” as a messiah, one sent by God to help me learn astrology, though alas, my ill fate did not allow it. He was the unknown master, not well known in astrology literary circles, but one whom clients could swear by. Today, just a few of his books remain, but they are virtually useless as the master keys of each of the aphorisms were lost when the master passed on. If, after reading this article, some of you are inspired to write back with your own experiences of a similar master, please know that Saptarishis Astrology would be deeply grateful.

Studying the way of the ancients and elders teaches us not just what a successful astrologer should do, but also what he should not do. This article constitutes a path of learning for this writer, who had swayed from the path and wished to re-learn the proper attitude toward astrology, especially how to avoid certain pitfalls. There will be two responses to this article: the young uncorrupted lot will appreciate it, whereas the more corrupted lot will disagree with it; hence we had not earlier mentioned “The One” about whom we are now writing, except in hushed tones or mysterious one-liners. What is being written here was due to the influences of “The One” long before he shed his mortal coil; his clients gave him his due respect and honor, but the astrological community did not do so. It is this debt that we wish to pay here in this article.

Prepare your coffee and take this article’s print-out, and cuddle up on the patio for what we hope will be a pleasant read. Also note that this is not a technical write-up, hence charts and technical details of Indian astrology are not given. This way, even the Western astrologer can enjoy it. Usually, publishers cannot praise an astrologer since other writers of his magazine may become jealous, but “The One” is no longer alive, so nobody’s business will be affected. Each astrologer contributes something toward the science, so we must bow to each other. Astrology is not a race to achieve the “throne”; otherwise it would negate the very purpose of a spiritual science that was advocated by the ancient sages. The result of my writing this piece may be that “important astrologers” may wish to stop writing for this magazine, or possibly, no “important astrologer” will want to join the board of writers, and there may be some vengeance in business resulting in monetary loss. Maybe that’s the fate of SA (Saptarishis Astrology), but then we have never run this magazine with a business mentality. Rather, we have run it like a family, and the entire astrological community is our family, which we must serve. If you as an astrologer feel jealousy or dislike toward the man whom we are going to describe, then we are sorry to inspire these harsh feelings. It only means that astrology needs to become more of a penance in our lives, wherein true spiritual feelings of brotherhood and non-hatred toward others should arise. This article represents an attempt to commemorate a great astrologer who lives no more, who was somehow hidden from the world. He was often referred to in forums as the Guaranteed Astrologer, and somewhat like the mythical Rocky Balboa, he was an underdog who has become a hero to some of us.

The Professional Astrologer Who Refused To Give Consultations

We were in North India in 2006 with a friend who was unemployed. Being unemployed in India is the worst sin, especially if you have grown up with a flamboyant lifestyle, having expensive tastes and habits. Though we were well networked, we called up “X” who has been referred to many times in the editorials. X was told that our friend was in desperate need of a job, that his parents were old and in huge stress as the friend had just left a high paying job as GM of a small company. X was told that the friend had lost hope with astrology and that he really needed accurate advice. He needed to know the date when his next job would begin, and needed to know if there was an astrologer who could tell him this. X referred to the astrologer named S. K. Mehta. X’s intention was that we go and meet Mr. Mehta and learn his unique system, as he was known to predict “to the day” without using Horary astrology. So it was our intention to meet Mehta, and this was more important than anything else. When we called him, he asked who had referred us, and as X had asked us not to mention his name (because he was concerned that Mehta would not charge us a fee if he knew we were sent by a friend), we said that a film producer in Bombay had recommended him. Mehta Saheb stated that he did not know such a person and that we should not come to see him. Next day, he was once again asked for a reading; he subsequently asked who referred us, and this time we answered with another name, and he said we should go away and not bother him again. Then, we called up X and updated him, at which point, X said it would be okay to mention his name. Evidently, X had known him for 20 years and had not wanted Mehta Saheb to do a free reading based on his friendship, which is why he had not wanted his name mentioned. This time when we called X, I said, “Sir, we are paying $80 per day in a hotel room, and Mehta Saheb’s fee is only $20, so he must allow us a reading as we desperately need to see him, and still he turned us away.” However, when we called Mehta Saheb and mentioned the “magical name” of X, instantly, he told us to come at 3:30 in the afternoon. It seems X had been doing this often before, wherein he had not wanted his name mentioned in the referral.

At 3 P.M., we were at his house and were ushered into a consultation room, where four people were already sitting. Mehta Saheb was at his desk with a lit cigarette, of it filling the stale air in the small room, and a young man in his late 20s was sitting in front of him. Mehta Saheb was shooting off rapid predictions to this young man, in a nasal tone and high pitched voice which was barely discernable. In between, he would offer astrological explanations to the young man, who did not seem to understand astrology, but who wore a wide smile nonetheless. He seemed to be enjoying the stunning predictions, such as…the smoke.

1. Your mother is 5 feet 6 inches tall, and she limps while walking.
2. You found a job in January exactly two years ago.
3. Your father is in a property dispute, which has been ongoing for four years, and which will be resolved in another five years from now.

We realized that we were sitting in front of a master, who incidentally did not have any books, certificates, or photographs of saints or gods on display. Mehta Saheb was constantly smoking and many times kept the cigarette lit for a long interval without even smoking it. Then he made us wait, as it was time for him to eat, and he offered us food, after which he asked for the birth details of our friend, and he created his chart on a Palm Top like instrument. He scribbled the chart on a notepad, and our investigative eye noted that he had drawn the natal chart and next to it the same chart from the Moon Ascendant. I do not recall if he created a D-9 chart or not. After he did many calculations by hand, he scribbled in minute detail what is popularly known as the Period/Dasa calculation in India, which helps in timing results. Indian astrologers popularly think that the Period/Dasa is not available in Western astrology, but this is far from the truth. Western astrology also has a method of Period/Dasa computation. Mehta Saheb was calculating this by hand, and we realized that he was also doing something “more.” He then stared at the horoscope for approximately eight to ten minutes and not more than that. X would not agree here since he has probably seen Mehta Saheb divulge stunning predictions in seconds, but maybe for some reason, Mehta Saheb stared at it for this long time. Then he started reeling off predictions which left us speechless and made us realize that we were sitting in front of a “master of masters,” perhaps the finest God could ever make. X would often say about Mehta’s predictions, “It was as if Sage Bhrighu was speaking through him.

Kindly note that any client in India knows “in his heart” that the greatest of astrologers can reach a maximum 60 percent accuracy, whereas many astrologers would tell you that they easily get 80-90 percent accuracy. The details of the chart of our friend are not given for privacy issues, but one must remember what Mehta Saheb said to us on the telephone, as his parting shot before he passed on: “Try to predict the chart by knowing the events of a person, and you will master astrology.”11 Now read the predictions as given by Mehta Saheb on our friend’s chart, and please note that 80-90 percent of these predictions did come true.

1. Your father is a government employee who was falsely implicated in a case and then suspended. The “Committee Enquiry” would reveal that he was not at fault but that it was his superior who falsely implicated him. He would be re-instated after exactly one year from this trouble. – Friend replied with astonishment that this was very true, and no astrologer in India had ever before predicted this to him.

2. You are a clean-hearted person and you have been fooled mercilessly by many, and your whole life is a tragedy since everyone cheats you or takes you for granted. Just five months back you were cheated similarly. People like you can never become successful. –Friend was about to reply that this was very true, that it had unfortunately happened just like this, but Mehta Saheb was busy looking at the chart, and just put his hand up as if to say, “Don’t disturb me. I know that my prediction is true.”

3. You are not married right now, and I am not sure if you will get married, but first reply to me if any of your father’s elder siblings are unmarried. My friend replied in the affirmative that four out of five of his father’s siblings were unmarried, and Mehta Saheb then raised his voice slightly, “Okkk, you will then get married.” Here, one must intervene that it was felt he would never get married since he was 34 years old with a very badly afflicted chart by any standards, and all famous astrologers had failed miserably on his chart in regards to timing marriage. – Friend replied that two of his aunts from his father’s side and two of his uncles from his father’s side were unmarried. We intervened to ask him if this is due to Rahu debilitated in his 7H with its dispositor debilitated, too. Mehta Saheb smiled and asked politely that we not disturb him. Kindly note the word “then” above, that’s the key.

4. Mehta Saheb said that the wife will have some practice of her own, like a lawyer or doctor, that right at the time, it is not her own practice, but when he would meet her, it would be her own practice, in which she was doing some kind of “preaching,” and working with the government – Years later, it was noticed this prediction failing partially as the wife of the friend was a teacher and not a lawyer or doctor, but she was into preaching as a teacher, and she was taking private tuitions from childhood and later she was taking her own tuitions and also employed with a government school. Incidentally, what we checked was that in 2006 she was taking tuitions under her brother’s classes, and later became independent starting her own tuition classes, making the prediction true in a way.

5. Then Mehta Saheb said in his slightly nasal voice that friend’s wife will be one of five children and yet heir of a huge inheritance, and she might be the youngest (this did not come out as true), but when he meets her, she would have almost none of the inheritance, that right now her family has two houses, but when he meets her they would have sold one. She would have been cheated of her inheritance. At the time of this prediction, the family would have two vehicles. He went on describe that three of her siblings would have taken an MBA, one would be in the hotel business, one’s marital life would be spoiled and he would be divorced by the time friend meets his wife-to-be. – Have followed this case and noticed that part of the prediction is not true but yet astoundingly true to a larger extent, as the friend married a girl who has in total five siblings including herself, in spite of her being the second eldest, her father had openly said to all five siblings that the whole inheritance which he is supposed to receive would be hers only. When the friend met the girl, she told him that she was heir of a huge inheritance but that her uncle had cheated her father and given him a small insignificant percent of it amounting to some 20 lakhs (40,000 $). They had thus two houses but due to this cheating, one was gone and the other, her brother had cheated her whole family out of to make it in his name. Two siblings are right now doing MBA, the third is an MBA graduate who is divorced, the fourth does not have a hotel business and is into Telecommunications, but he did his studies in Hotel Management, so here Mehta Saheb was a bit off.

Some of the other predictions we don’t remember, though we noted a few in our diary. He was the only astrologer we had to stop after 45 minutes of predictions since it was too stunning and we wanted it on paper due to his indiscernible voice. Also, he said that these predictions were just preliminary, and that after he would give us 30 predictions for the next 30 days, we were to give him feedback in writing, and only then he would rectify the birth time. After this, the “real predictions” would be given. And we had thought that already his predictions had been stunning enough! We sat in awe as we were in front of the finest astrologer so far, though others may have experienced better than we had. Then we realized why X had sent us to him. The problem was that X secretly desired that we learn Mehta Saheb’s system, but Mehta Saheb had an accent which was too difficult to discern, and his writings were “indecipherable,” as we were to discover later.

Though he was very strict on this 30-day feedback, he still gave us three dates that were for a particular month only, as to when the new job would be found. He said that out of the three dates he would guarantee one date even though we had not gone through the process of chart rectification. This scribe was stunned since no astrologer had ever guaranteed his predictions since the 6th century astrologer Varahamihira, who was ready to be hanged if his predictions did not become true, yet, this scribe cannot guarantee even one of his own predictions. Because of his dazzling predictions, this scribe started calling Mehta Saheb the “Guaranteed Astrologer” in various Internet forums.

Now these dates for the upcoming job were nine months later than the dates given in most consultations, and we were dismayed since it was not exactly what we had wanted to hear. Most of us go with pre-conceived notions of what the astrologer must say to us. In fact, most astrologers in India might have given our friend a one-or-two-month period for new job gain, and Mehta Saheb was the only astrologer who gave us such an extended- wait period prediction.

X’s Reaction

In November when my friend landed a job, X asked, “Out of the three dates which Mehta Saheb gave as good, better and best, which one was accurate?” I said that none were, and then X asked how much did it differ, and scribe replied that it differed around 22 days. X immediately wondered aloud in great frustration if Mehta Saheb had lost his astrological ability. X seemed to feel, based on this one case, that his recommendation had been useless. This writer, on the other hand, was quite pleased and astonished that the month of the job hire had been predicted to the “T,” and that this prediction had been made nine months in advance, and so what if his prediction had been off by a mere 22 days? However, X had known Mehta Saheb for 20 years of close friendship, and in this time, had seen him predicting a minimum of 50 cases of job gain to the day, which is why this was a surprise to him.

In one future instance on the same chart Mehta Saheb failed dramatically, but by then he had moved to the holy city of Haridwar, India, due to his ill health. He did not want to make this particular prediction, and scribe had to pester him several times for it, but in the end, his prediction failed anyway. He did not tell us that it was time for him to pass on… but he had told X three years earlier that a particular week three years later would be bad for him, and then three days before the event, he called up X and said its time to say goodbye to 20 years of friendship.

Some Of His Predictions

This is what X and some contacts in Delhi told me. What we have heard from X will always be totally true since we know X to be the most honest devotee12 of astrology that we have ever met and known personally for a long time. Some of this might be factually erroneous since we heard it on the phone and there is a slight chance we could have heard the facts wrong.

1. X had an industrialist client whose brother was jailed by the Enforcement Directorate. The industrialist was a long time client of Mehta Saheb and was worried about his brother, and Mehta Saheb said that at 10 o’clock he would be freed, and exactly at 10:05, the industrialist who was sitting with Mehta Saheb received a call from his brother that he had been freed. X was witness to this prediction, which incidentally was not made through horary astrology, but from natal astrology, which makes it more astonishing; but if you knew the kind of calculations Mehta did, you would not be so astonished. He was quite keen and almost fanatical about doing his astrological calculations by hand; we have not seen any other astrologer so meticulous and quick at it.

2. A friend of X in Delhi had his marriage falling apart, so X took him to Mehta Saheb as X realized that one cannot play in experimentation with popular astrologers, but rather should take his friend to astrologers who can really deliver. This friend of X was in a very high position, and so was his wife, both being employed in MNC companies with huge salaries. Mehta Saheb saw the chart of X’s friend and said that he was married, and then asked if they had two children. The man replied that he had two children and mentioned their ages. Mehta Saheb said “Oh, in that case you would soon be divorced, and within a year, you would have a girlfriend who would live with you (live in relationship), and she would give birth to your child.” X tells me that the prediction came out true “to the T.”

3. To another friend 15 years before the event, Mehta Saheb saw the charts of his daughters and said about one that “she would marry at such and such age, the name of her husband would be starting with such and such letter, he would be doing such and such business, and his father would be of such and such status in life, and his uncles would be in such and such profession.” For brevity and privacy, the details were deleted. Having one firsthand experience of Mehta Saheb, we knew that he was an absolute master in looking at the profession of relatives and especially the relatives of the spouse. X indicates that he was even a master at predicting the starting letter of the name of one’s spouse.13

4. One of his failed predictions that X often tells us is that of a very rich man from Punjab, and Mehta Saheb was sure that he would become the President of India. The man campaigned in Delhi for four years or so, and spent huge sums of money doing PR with political parties, but the event did not happen. Like any other astrologer, Mehta Saheb felt he was correct in his prediction, but he failed. In another chart, he got everything wrong for seven years.

5. In one of our trips to Delhi, this scribe, P.M. Padia (Guru of James Braha) and Andree Leclerc were visiting a famous publisher, and scribe was suggesting that the
need of the hour is to revive old classics in astrology, especially the books of astrology greats like the late J.N. Bhasin and Bepin Behari. Their books need to be re-written, as all of them are priceless jewels which need to be represented in clear simple Englishand systematic presentation. At that time, I just removed the topic of one book which the publisher had withdrawn, which was of S. K. Mehta, and the publisher’s son immediately pounced with enthusiasm in the conversation as to what a brilliant astrologer he was. Kindly note that publishers have met all kinds of astrologers and are forced to test either their knowledge or their predictive ability. Later in the conversation, it was learned that S. K. Mehta used to also give consultations at this publisher’s office and he had wide experiences of Mr. Mehta’s predictions. In fact, the publisher’s son mentioned one experience concerning the daughter or granddaughter of the late J. N. Bhasin. It seems Mehta Saheb used to often give the date of accident or breakdown of her car and the granddaughter of Bhasin would get the car serviced and in perfect order before the said date, “yet it would break down on the concerned date and this would repeat and repeat for each prediction.”

6. He predicted that another famous Delhi publisher’s hand would break, and the publisher did have a bad fracture some time later.

7. A client went to him and he said without knowing the background, “your father was in the army and he has a huge mustache even now after retirement but he has no hair on his head and is bald.”

These predictions are not so great, but this is what we have to offer now as to what we remember. His students who have disappeared are requested to prove us wrong and bring out the true glory of their guru’s predictive ability and more important than that, of his techniques.

The Man, The Machine

This is the most important section as per this scribe, and a learning for even the best of the lot. If some of the good points of Mehta Saheb are inspirational, then this write-up has served its purpose. Mehta Saheb did not learn astrology from anyone or from books. He was an engineer, and when he started to learn astrology, he read two books by one popular author. He read it and practiced it on some charts, only to realize that no clear predictions could ever be made via that knowledge, so he instantly discarded those books, and when we met him he showed us that in his house there are no books. He was self-taught, and he called his system “Observational Astrology.”

He never met an astrologer, never went to any conference, never advertised his consultation service, never wrote any articles and was light years away from Internet forums. In October of 2010 at Guru Shivananda Murthyji’s conference, we took a long pending interview of the veteran astrologer K. N. Rao, and on the last day just before ten minutes of our departing, we asked, pushing the MP3 recorder towards him, whether he heard of S. K. Mehta, and then K. N. Rao said in his baritone voice very loudly, “Brilliants’ Astrologer.”

Mr. Mehta did not have many possessions in life, and this is often the mark of a great astrologer, and he did not want many clients, and his fees were the same whether it was for others or the ex-Chief Minister of a State, to whom he had predicted that in 11 days on such and such date, he would become the Chief Minister of that State. 14 The Chief Minister’s wife would personally invite him with an airline ticket to the capital city to give predictions, and X had seen her personally at the residence of Mehta receiving predictions, too. Twice he had given to-the-date predictions to this Chief Minister in front of X, as to when he would become Chief Minister. It is not known if he distinguished between the common man and a Chief Minister, but it did not appear so, since Mehta Saheb came across in front of us as a very humble astrologer, and he would not be of the type to show partiality to people in power.

Mehta Saheb was not a popular person since he did not write articles or attend conferences and he was not so well known in India, but only in those circles where he was recommended. Some so-called holy astrologers had a problem with Mehta Saheb since he did not believe in God, 15 did not believe in remedies and he used to smoke and drink alcohol. The problem with India is, in spite of thousands of years of spirituality and all of us claiming that India is the most spiritual land, we have not been able to eradicate racism, dowry, poverty, or corruption. 16 We have not been able to go to the core of spirituality to understand that it’s not one’s eating or drinking habits that make a man, it’s his heart, nothing more, nothing less. The saints of Maharashtra and Indian yogis have shown this for hundreds of years, how they can smoke but also give great spiritual teachings, perform miracles and be the kindest of humans. The Hugging Saint Mata Amritanandamayi once said in an interview in Times Of India that “Spirituality starts where religion ends.”

Well one brief meeting and few calls is a very short period in which to get to know anyone, but after a certain age, one gets the experience of how to judge character. With Mehta Saheb, we did not notice arrogance or a bloated ego; though he deserved it, and yet he himself answered that he learned astrology on his own through “Observational Astrology.” One does not know why he refused to call it “my research,” but it was only called by him, “Observational Astrology.” Speaking of Observational astrology, he would often sit with X and discuss charts and then remove his small diaries and say something such as, “In 1982, so and so had come with so and so combination in his chart, and this current client has the same combination, and the same events have unfolded.” X said that if one kept the rule books of Mehta Saheb, where he scribbled his rules of prediction, it actually would be one metre in height. Mehta had a huge memory and would remember charts well. He had some eight to ten students that he taught over a period, but unfortunately no writings or teachings have come out of them. In fact, one of Mehta’s books was withdrawn by his students from a famous publisher, which is what the publisher told us. X found him to be one of the few astrologers with whom he could discuss astrology without worrying about the politics of astrologers or hurting the ego of astrologers when asked some tough technical questions.

His Books

It has taken us three years to procure the two marvelous books written by the Guaranteed Astrologer:

1. “New Rules & Combinations In Hindu Astrology.”
2. “Synchronization of Periods.”

The former maybe can be used by any Western or Indian astrologer student for marvelous predictions, and the latter gives a very technical form of timing periods in astrology (Vimshottari). Both the books, especially the latter, are beyond this scribes’ intelligence, but one would want others to learn it well, and if you read it and find it working, then please do write articles on it by sharing your experiences. Please note that with his work, one might need to relearn astrology, so if your cup is not empty, don’t bother to go through it as we would not want you to waste your money.

Do note that X clearly mentioned that not even 1% of Mehta Saheb’s knowledge has come out in the books, and the books were written by his students. X said these books need to be re-written by a good writer, as Mehta Saheb was a predictor and everyone in India knows that the ones who can predict are rarely good writers. It’s almost a 99 percent rule as these predictors do not have time to write books or have time to write in Internet forums, as the population of India is so much that if one gets the wind that one is a great predictor, then his house will often have queues waiting to get in, whereas most writers do not have the fortune of having people lining up outside their homes. Along with one of our volunteer writers, Mr. Venkat, we had tested some of the astounding principles given in New Rules of Hindu Astrology, but we found it working on a few charts stunningly and failing on a few, so apparently, we did not have the master key of S. K. Mehta. Young and old readers often criticize other astrologers’ techniques, not realizing that knowing a technique and then writing “how to use it” can be the most difficult part, even when a writer wants to openly share. Yet in the next installment of this article, we would take up some of his rules and show how astoundingly it works on some charts and how it fails on some, giving a balanced view. That should also serve as a reminder to young students that the best kept secrets of true researchers and writers is that each technique can work on 100 charts and an article can display all those 100 charts, and similarly that same technique can be used to show how it is

not working on another set of 100 charts. If you plan to buy his books, do not expect miracles coming out. Remember that one metre-in-height rule book of Mehta, and remember for a super computer like Mehta, it was never possible to put his knowledge out in book form. It was only after the insistence of X and other admirers that something had to be published, and for this, we must be grateful. The books of Mehta Saheb remind me of the books written by sages, where each aphorism can seem to be working on some charts and failing on some, yet it is our tradition that we do not criticize the sages so why should we criticize a modern author and create bad karma.

Learning From Him

Over the years we have found that Observational Astrology is the greatest form of guru to oneself. But this has to be blended with the ability to accept that our knowledge is limited, and there are some rules which are not known to us, since if we believe that we know all the rules or we are the greatest researcher ever born, we would not be able to learn from Observational Astrology. This may have been the strongest point of Mehta Saheb, as he re-wrote astrology for himself, starting from scratch. If there is something valuable I have learned from him and my mentor, it is that I for one am not capable of becoming a practicing astrologer if I can’t be 99 percent accurate, since it’s a sin to misguide someone, and if I am only 50-60 percent accurate, then I am making this subject/science a form of entertainment, which it is not.

When an astrologer decides that he does not want to be known in the literary circles of astrology, he may be at a great advantage and can excel far more than anyone. Often literary circles of astrology are distracting and consuming time and precious mental energy, apart from at times creating bad karma out of philosophical disagreements. If I can find faults in myself and compare it with what I can learn from Mehta Saheb, it is, he did not bother to write articles, he did not have the desire to stand in front of crowds of young astrologers in conferences, he did not have to spend days to prepare his speeches like other conference speakers, he did not have to spend days writing an article and then spend years promoting that article at every instance, and he did not want to be surrounded by hundreds of students. Mehta Saheb was spared all this and he could save all this time and devote himself to the “real astrology” and not pseudo astrology that I have been doing, and most important is that he did not seem to have the desire to be called a guru or be given a red carpet treatment. Even though we spoke few times, we spoke at length, and we never found him complaining about any astrologer. Mehta Saheb was better off not believing in God, it seems. He seems to have fulfilled the expression, “Fill It, Shut It, and Forget It.”

He died as the Unsung Hero of Astrology.